Use these teaching resources and cross-curricular learning activities for a fun twist in your lesson plans leading up to Thanksgiving break. We hope you have a great holiday!
8 Great Ways to Be Thankful
This printable infographic illustrates eight great ways to show gratitude, perfect for kids of all ages. Download now.
Download this free, printable infographic to remind kids of ways to show gratitude.
Classroom Activities: Native America
For centuries, Native Americans painted on objects that they used. These included everything from tanned hides and ceramic vessels to tepees and the walls of ceremonial rooms.
This timeline shows some important events in Native American/newcomer relations. Create a large timeline on the board and have students add the dates of the events in the timeline from Native America. Next, have students find the years of other important events in America and the world, such as the American Revolution, the Lewis & Clark expedition, the Civil War, the gold rush, and the year each state joined the United States. Students should add these events to the class timeline. Ask questions that require students to use the timeline, such as “Was the ‘Trail of Tears’ before or after Oklahoma became a state?” Read more…
Classroom Activities: 13 Colonies
When settlers first showed up, Native American tribes often started trading with them.
Life was difficult in the 13 Colonies, and people had to work hard. Invite students to imagine that they live in one of the 13 Colonies and are keeping journals or diaries of their daily lives. Encourage them to write as descriptively as possible about the lives they imagine. Have them use questions such as the following in order to stimulate writing: What would you have done from day to day as a colonist? Where would you have spent your time? Read more…
Classroom Activities: Early Settlements
When ships delivered settlers to Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America, life changed for Native American tribes already living there.
Before European powers began colonizing North America, numerous Native American tribes had already been living there for centuries. Have each student choose one tribe (you can use the map in our topic Looking West From Europe) and research it using the Internet or other available resources. What was life like for that tribe? What did they eat? What did they wear? What resources were important to them? Have students present on the cultures and histories of their respective tribes. Read more…
Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?
Ask your students to write and draw something that they could bring to a Thanksgiving dinner with family or friends. Here are a few ideas to get them going. Read more…
What will your students bring to Thanksgiving dinner?
